CRAMPONS OF FEAR! To 27 January.
Ipswich/Woodbridge.
CRAMPONS OF FEAR!
by Julian Harries music by Pat Whymark.
Eastern Angles Theatre Company To 27 January 2008.
Sir John Mills Theatre Gatacre Road Ipswich To 19 Jan.
Mon-Sat 7.454pm Mat Wed , Sat & 27 Dec 4.15pm.
Sun 23 Dec 2.30pm.
no performance 24-25 Dec.
many Ipswich performances sold out; check website for availability.
then 22-27 Jan Seckford Theatre Woodbridge School.
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Mat Wed & Sat 4.15pm, Sun 2.30pm.
TICKETS: 01473 211498
www.easternangles.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 December.
Top-hole form in spiffing spoof.
If your idea of a good night out includes yodelling along to ‘The Bonking Sausage Song’, this is the show for you. It was around this part in the second act I was least happy with this year’s seasonal spoof epic (as opposed to epic spoof) from Eastern Angles.
It’s where regular Angles author Julian Harries reverts to the parodist’s stock-in-trade (or stocking trade) of cross-dressing, a real drag, and sexual innuendos mixing predictability with unoriginality; double entendres are the single most tedious form of humour.
This remains the strongest Harries’ Christmas offering I’ve seen. Set in 1932, it opens with a song celebrating Englishness, enjoyably rhyming ‘Blighty’ with ‘High tea’. It turns out to be a concert number from an English entertainment troupe touring Europe.
From this innocent-seeming beginning the adventure develops into a swift spy-story indebted to Alfred Hitchcock. The 39 Steps (including the non-Hitchcock, Robert Powell remake) and The Lady Vanishes are chief sources, but Vertigo, Rear Window and at least one version of The Man Who Knew Too Much seem implicated, along with Cavalcanti’s Ventriloquist’s Dummy episode from the Hitchcock-like Dead of Night. The Good Companions, George Formby, a couple of Julie Andrews roles and a quote from King Lear (playing in the current RSC production is Harries’ night job) come along for the often-hilarious ride.
There’s probably more, given the hectic pace of invention. It’s well-served by the joint directors, with a gallimaufry of devices including a model attack-biplane (of course: North By North-West), cuddly hero rat and swivel-eyed dummy villain.
Most of all, there’s the exemplary cast, neither over- nor under-playing, managing the script’s self-referential lines, beautifully scrambling the timing of stock 30’s dialogue, and veering between characters. Tom Peters has multiple character transitions, way beyond the call of wigs and clothing, leading to a sublime duel between his human and dummy voices.
Greg Wagland’s ice-cream selling gondolier is hilariously deadpan; his villainous foreigner finely recalls Godfrey Tearle’s very English spy in 39 Steps - though he’s plus, rather than minus, a finger. But all are splendidly energetic and spot-on in this craftily-scripted show.
Cynthia Wetterburn/Frau Krinkel: Tracy Elster.
Edith Bliss: Elizabeth Park.
Oliver Bliss: Simon Nock.
Gondolier/Baron von Heiie: Greg Wagland.
Henry McGuffen/Sandy Buckets/Lawrence Larksborough/Professor Nadgers: Tom Peters.
Directors: Julian Harries/Pat Whymark.
Designers: Dora Schweitzer/Steve Wilson.
Lighting: Penny Griffin.
Sound: Bryan Hoyer.
Musical Director: Pat Whymark.
Costume: Faby Pym.
Assistant director: Jon Tavener.
2007-12-15 11:35:55